Bruins can see different looks, weigh options in final regular-season games

The Bruins haven’t won either of their last two games and it doesn’t matter. What a hilarious stretch run.

They care, of course, but the team has reached a point in its schedule that most other teams don’t get to have: the time for not only rest, but mixing and matching in preparation for anything the B’s might encounter when the injuries inevitably come in the postseason.

The most obvious case of this has been Loui Eriksson. The last two games have seen Eriksson used on both David Krejci[1]‘s line (in place of a resting – er, lower-body injury suffering – Jarome Iginla Wednesday) andPatrice Bergeron[2]‘s line (Claude Julien[3] flipped Eriksson and Reilly Smith starting in the second period Thursday).

Giving Eriksson some time on both of the top two lines is a wise move for the B’s late in the season. Should a top-six winger suffer an injury in the postseason, Eriksson would be the most likely option to move up in the lineup, so getting him some level of comfort with those players provides a good insurance policy. When he gets back in the lineup, the Bruins would be wise to use Carl Soderberg at center on one of the top two lines with that line’s center resting.

Rich Peverley[4] used to serve in that role for the B’s, as he got used to playing with pretty much every other forward despite usually serving as a winger on the third line when everyone was healthy. The most notable case of this came in the 2011 Stanley Cup[5] finals, when Peverley played on the right wing of Krejci’s line after Nathan Horton[6]suffered a series-ending concussion.

Of course, Eriksson already has experience playing with Brad Marchand[7] and Bergeron from earlier in the season, but he hadn’t played on that line since Dec. 7, as Reilly Smith seized the second-line right wing job while Eriksson was recovering from his second concussion of the season. Eriksson had not played with the Krejci line this season, as the only other game prior to Wednesday that did not feature the Milan Lucic[8] – Krejci – Iginla trio was when Soderberg andDaniel Paille[9] filled in for a sick Lucic in Anaheim.

Eriksson playing on the Bergeron line Wednesday could also be a case of Julien weighing options given that Smith has just one goal in his last 25 games. However, Julien said earlier this week that he’s reluctant to change his lines prior to the postseason.

“Right now, there’s no doubt that you could always move guys around, but when you look at our third line, it’s been so productive,” Julien said. “You look at all our lines. Even if [Smith]’s not producing, Bergy’s been producing really well, so our lines are producing right now.”

Meanwhile, the different looks on the back end have continued. Julien has yet to make clear his intentions for his six postseason defensemen, though the assumption is that the biggest spot up for grabs is the second-pairing left side job currently held down by Matt Bartkowski. He and Andrej Meszaros are both battling for that job, and the last two games have seen one of them play on the second pairing withJohnny Boychuk[10] while the other was scratched.

Neither one has dazzled thus far this week. Meszaros, who scored Sunday against the Flyers, was a minus-2 Wednesday against the Red Wings, and was part of an odd Red Wings goal that came after the puck was caught in his pants. Bartkowski was also the victim of some bad luck, as the puck was lost in his skates on a first period play before Paul Ranger got the puck and sent it past Chad Johnson[11].

Though Bartkowski has over 500 games less of NHL[12] experience than Meszaros, he is more experienced in the Bruins system and has already served as a top-4 defenseman for the B’s in the playoffs, which he did in the second round last season against the Rangers.

Julien has five games left to see different looks and weigh his options.

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